Sealed With a Kiss
by Artemis Day
Summary: On the cusp of a beautiful happy ending with Thor, Jane Foster is about to find her whole world shaken up, and it's all because of a single moment at the kissing booth. Lokane AU.


**A/N: Based on a prompt from aenigmaticdays on tumblr.**

* * *

The kissing booth was either a very good idea or a very bad one.

On the one hand, this year's Scientific Committee fundraiser so far had been doubly more successful than last year, and they were only on the second day! Jane could pretend that her research partner's butter snap cookies, or even the dunk tank Darcy had spent the last three hours manning, were the cause of it, but at the end of the day, it would always be the kissing booth. Their volunteers were some of the hottest guys on campus, from the rich and suave to the dark and mysterious. Jane could look at that mile long line of excited, jumpy ladies waiting their turn, and those bright pink cash boxes stuffed with bills, and know that she owed it all to the brave souls who took up the mantle of 'professional kisser.'

On the other hand, and grateful as she was, she hadn't planned on joining those excited, jumpy girls. There was too much else to do: money to count, clean-ups to supervise, tickets to sell… she'd been a jack of all trades this weekend; doing whatever job she could and filling the empty slots of those who couldn't make it. It shouldn't have surprised her at all when her friends ambushed her at the ring toss, leaving her to throw a bewildered child his prize as she was dragged away.

"You've been working too hard, Jane," said Darcy as she took Jane's left arm and pulled furiously.

"It's time you had some fun of your own," said Maria. Being taller and stronger than Darcy, she had much less trouble marching Jane around sharp turns and game booths.

"But I _am_ having fun!" Jane had shouted in vain.

That was an hour ago, and after all that time they were still twenty people away from the front of the line. Some part of Jane saw this as an advantage: if she was careful, she could just slip away and make a run for it. The others would be too busy waiting their turn to notice she was gone. By the time they did, she'd be with Bruce, Betty and Ian, making plans for tomorrow's activity roaster.

Jane glanced up at Maria, her view of the booth and the man behind it blocked by the taller girl's shoulder. Darcy and Pepper brought up the rear, leaving Jane squashed into the middle. So much for that idea.

"God, this wait is killing me," Darcy groaned. Her body fell into Jane's like a wet sack of potatoes, emphasis on wet. Jane gasped as the cold hit her. Darcy's soaking wet t-shirt seeped water through Jane's jacket.

"Get off!"

Jane pushed, misjudging her own strength and winding up jettisoned out of the line and onto the soft grass below. She fisted it. She could run now if she wanted to, she was in the clear. In the time it took her to process that, Darcy and Maria were dragging her back behind Pepper. A few girls who complained were pointedly ignored and Jane was trapped once again.

"Sorry about that," Darcy said sheepishly. "I was so excited that I forget to change out of my dunk tank clothes."

"How are you not catching a massive cold right now?" Jane wondered aloud.

"Oh please, my immune system is, like, superhuman or something. I never get sick."

"Knock wood," Pepper said out the corner of her mouth.

"I don't believe in that," replied Darcy.

"What I don't get is that if you're so eager to get a kiss from Loki, why don't I ever see you flirting with him?" Maria stuffed her hands in her pockets, shifting her weight evenly between both legs. "You have your own kind of charm, you know."

"Thank you," said Darcy proudly. "But nah. Loki's hot as all hell don't get me wrong, but he's not my type. Not for relationships anyway. For this? Hell yeah, I'm game."

Darcy pumped her fist in the air, doing a weird little swaying dance and whipping her head in all directions. Several people got droplets of water to the face, but by now most everyone was more concerned with getting this damn line moving to care. Whoever was taking her turn had to really be milking it.

Jane looked up and down the field that on normal days, belonged to the football field.

"This line is way longer than yesterday's was," she observed.

"That's because Tony was on the kissing booth yesterday," said Darcy, rolling her eyes. "And we all know he had to cut his shift short because_ somebody_ decided to drag him away for a little 'private session,' wink wink nudge nudge."

She proceeded to do exactly that to Pepper, getting her right in the gut and earning a glare, though the elegant woman's sly little smile could not be contained for long.

"Well, it was part of our agreement," she said casually. "He runs the kissing booth and I get a special deal."

"And I suppose a smooch from Loki was somewhere in that deal as well?"

Again, Pepper just smiled.

The line was moving faster now. Several girls seemed to be going at once, and now only ten separated Jane from her fate. She hated to seem melodramatic about it, but that was really how it felt. Imagine if Thor walked by, right as she was planting one on none other than his own little brother. Sure, it was just a game and he knew that, and Thor was not the jealous type by any degree. He was, in fact, one of the kindest, most easy-going guys Jane had ever met in her life, not to mention he had a smile that made her knees go weak. It was no wonder her heart pounded whenever he was around, and that his sudden out of the blue request for a date last month had quickly turned into something more. Though they weren't official yet, Jane could see it coming a mile away. They had been on three dates, she had gone with him to the homecoming dance, she had met his family and hit it off with his mother, and now there was just that one little question to ask.

_'Jane, will you be mine?'_

She heard it in his voice and felt pleasant warmth spread across her chest. It crawled from her head to her toes, like he was right there, pressing into her back with his arms around her.

Jane heard a giggle, and for a moment mistook it for hers. It was too deep though, too much like Maria's.

Actually, it _was_ Maria.

She was walking away from the kissing booth with a bounce in her step as she waved good-bye to Loki from where he sat.

Maria had just taken her turn.

Only Darcy and Pepper were left.

And then…

"Focus up, Jane," Darcy shouted over her shoulder. "Almost your turn."

She skipped over, depositing the fee into the box and wrapping her arms around Loki's neck in what had to be the biggest, sloppiest kiss he'd received all day. That was the thing about Darcy, she always had to leave an impression.

Three seconds passed and she was done, joining Maria in the corner as the two of them huddled together and giggled. Compared to Darcy, Pepper's kiss was like a friendly handshake between business partners. One little peck and she was done, staying only long enough to remind Loki that Tony expected him later tonight to talk plans for the engineering club's fundraiser next month.

From there, Jane had to be not-so-gently pushed along by the woman behind her. Loki smiled serenely as she stumbled forward, nearly tripping over her own feet and needing the table to brace herself.

"Good afternoon, Jane," he said.

For a moment, she wondered if that was all he would be saying to her. Jane had met Loki several times before she and Thor were ever an item. They had shared some pretty intense and interesting conversations, and yet Jane never felt they made it quite to 'friend' level. Hell, he was barely an acquaintance. She hadn't even known him and Thor were related until she went to Thor's house for the first time and found him reading on the couch. He always seemed to be in one of two moods: either he was talkative and deep, or he was curt and couldn't be bothered.

"Have you read the latest scientific articles on black holes? They are the reason I look forward to the day you will be published," he would say one day in the cafeteria.

"Fine," he would answer when she asked him over his family's dinner table how his day had gone before spending the rest of the night pretending she and Thor didn't exist.

"Of course you should expect far more than what that fool could give you. From what you've told me about him, I'd say you were never compatible," he said on the night of what would have been her anniversary with her first love as she cried bitter tears into her teacup.

"No," he would say and then shut the door in hers and Thor's faces when they asked if he wanted to come to the movie with them.

There was at least a chance Jane would get the former today. The latter seemed to correlate with Thor's presence for whatever reason, and as he wasn't there, maybe she'd get lucky.

"Look, I'm only doing this because they all made me." Jane pointed at her friends, who grinned and waved back. "They think I've been working too hard, and I get that they mean well, but they could have just taken me to get some churros if they wanted me to enjoy myself instead of-"

"Jane, there _is_ a line."

She was suddenly aware of about twenty pairs of eyes on her, and not a single one was friendly. Jane shuddered. She hadn't even turned around and she could feel the ice in their stares.

"Right, sorry," she inhaled and exhaled deeply, preparing herself. "Let's do this."

Her two dollars went into the box as she leaned in. Surprisingly, Loki didn't meet her. He stayed exactly as he was: arms crossed, elbows on the table, wearing a smile that was so different than Thor's and yet to Jane's horror had the same effect on her.

"How are you and Thor?" he asked.

"What?" Jane said without thinking. When it came to her, his smile was fading, and that, at least, was a relief.

"Are you two doing well?"

"Huh… don't we have to-"

"He told me that he plans to make you his girlfriend, officially."

Jane's heart did a backflip, cutting off her airway for a moment. Even if she expected it, even if she counted on it... to hear from a reliable source that it was really really true, well Jane would fly if she could.

"Thanks for telling me," she said. His nails dug deep into his skin.

"I don't think he should."

Jane furrowed her brow, frowned at him. A shot of anger and indignation went through her, smashing her joy to pieces and erasing all the gratitude she might have had for him.

"What does it matter to you if he does?" she snaps.

She was ready to leave. Let them keep the money and let all the fifty girls in back of her have him. She had a wonderful almost boyfriend to get back to and no one- especially not Loki- was going to ruin it. His hands were on her wrists like metal cuffs. Jane writhed in his grasp, but he held her firm.

"Everything," he hissed.

Their sealed lips met, and it was nothing like with Thor. Thor was tentative, he was gentlemanly. He would take what he wanted but only with a great deal of build-up, and he never dared go over the line. Sometimes, Jane almost wished he would. She liked a man who knew how to push, not too much and not too little. Jane had no such wish with Loki. He knew exactly what he was doing. His mouth was closed, yet his command was unquestionable. She felt cold air on her wrists where his hands had been. It was like a tiny squirt of water on a raging fire. He was burning her, his lips were burning her. Everything about him was an inferno and now she would never escape him.

How long had it been? A minute? Ten minutes? Where there still people behind her or had they gotten tired of waiting and left hours ago?

His lips curved as they left her. The world came crashing down around her. She saw Darcy grinning and fanning herself. The girl behind her was tapping her foot and giving her the stink eye, and still Loki had her. His spell would not break until he wanted it to.

"Think of me," he whispered in her ear.

Somehow, Jane walked away from him after that, back to her friends and back to a reality that made sense to her. A fairy tale prince was out there waiting for her, and his weird, bipolar brother had his own life to live and didn't make trouble for them. Her friends ribbed her about the kiss and how long it was over a later dinner. 'Twenty seconds,' Darcy chanted enough times to wind herself.

Just when Jane thought it would never end and her salad would be brown by the time she got eat it, there was her Knight in Shining Armor at the door. He arrived without florish, in his dirty blue jeans and open fannell jacket, but god was he gorgeous. It was almost unfair.

"Well, I didn't think I'd find you here, Jane," he said, leaning over her seated form as the others scooted away to give them some privacy. "Are you following me?"

Jane blushed hard and grinned. "We were here first, you know. If anyone should be asking that question, it's me."

Thor laughed heartily, and what a beautiful sound it was. "Looks like you got me."

He lowered his head and Jane raised hers without a moment's hesitation. Their breath mingled hot and needy. Now this was the way it was supposed to be.

This was right.

This was perfect.

Their lips met and it was…

Soft.

Slow.

Subdued.

Normal.

No flames.

No heat.

No nothing.

Just Thor.

Just Jane and Thor.

Just Jane and Thor and impossible green eyes and a grin like the devil himself filling her vision no matter if her eyes were closed or open. Just that tingling in her stomach that would never have come from the person she was kissing now.

_"Think of me."_

_'Oh no…'_

And somewhere far away- Jane would never know where- Loki sipped on a glass of wine and smirked.


End file.
